Cold stunning is a hypothermic reaction that happens when sea turtles are exposed to cold water over a long period of time. Spending time in cold water is a recipe for disaster for the cold-blooded turtles, which can experience decreased heart rate and circulation, lethargy, shock, pneumonia and even death.

Pilot Ed Filangeri and co-pilot Chris Wernau prepare to fly a plane loaded with turtles in banana boxes from Massachusetts to North Carolina.

NOAA

Since the endangered turtles depend on external sources of heat to keep warm and healthy, sea turtles normally migrate for the winter.

The turtles spread throughout Mid-Atlantic and Northeast U.S. waters during the summer and fall and begin to head further south around late October. But some don’t make it in time and end up cold stunned, according to NOAA Fisheries.

“It is largely unknown why some sea turtles do not migrate south prior to the drop in water temperatures. It is thought that animals foraging in shallow bays and inlets become susceptible to cold stunning because the temperatures in these areas can drop quite rapidly and unexpectedly,” according to NOAA.

This year, there’s been an “unusually early start to the sea turtle cold-stun season,” NOAA said. Already 44 turtles have washed up on Massachusetts beaches in need of help.

“Massachusetts averages about 600 cold-stunned endangered sea turtles a year, but the season usually doesn’t start until mid-November, depending on the weather,” according to NOAA.

The first batch of turtles this season were split between three of the state’s aquariums at Roanoke Island, Pine Knoll Shores and Fort Fisher, according to NOAA Fisheries.

But the turtles need volunteers like Filangeri and his co-pilot Chris Wernau to fly them home.

Nonprofit Turtles Fly Too is dedicated to connecting pilots with sea turtle conservation efforts. Filangeri has already flown five sea turtle missions, according to NOAA, including on Christmas Eve in 2015.

And turtles weren’t his first four-legged passengers.

“I heard about Turtles Fly Too from Leslie Weinstein, who posted the request on Pilots N Paws,” Filangeri said, according to NOAA. “I had been flying dogs and cats for about two years and I thought it would be cool.

“Turtles just seem so helpless when they are cold-stunned and sick. I keep coming back because of the special people I have met along the way. Everyone involved with saving this beautiful endangered species is so dedicated and giving, and I am proud to be a part of this team. I look forward to many more missions for these awesome creatures.”

Two Kemp's ridley sea turtles paddle back into the Atlantic in a release on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore after being treated for cold-stunning at the N.C. Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation Center on Roanoke Island.

Read Next

Duke college basketball freshman Zion Williamson was injured against North Carolina and former Blue Devils and NBA star Carlos Boozer tweeted for him to get well, but sent it to the national park by mistake.